As Donald Trump welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Mar-a-Lago, a.k.a. his "Winter White House" in Palm Beach, North Korea conducted their first ballistic missile test since he took office. On Saturday evening eastern standard time, North Korea fired a missile that flew for about 300 miles towards the Sea of Japan. Subsequently, Trump declared at a hastily pulled together news conference, “I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100%.”

CNN reports that Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said that the fact the missile was launched while Abe was visiting with Trump made it “a clear provocation to Japan and the region.” According to the BBC, U.S. military forces believe that the weapon was a Musudan intermediate-range missile, which capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean. Abe said at the news conference that this latest test was “absolutely intolerable. North Korea must fully comply with the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.” The U.N. has attempted to curb North Korea’s missile testing, but nonetheless the nation launched five test rockets last year.

In January as part of his New Year’s Day address to the nation Kim Jong Unwarned that North Korea had international ballistic missile technology, but American experts were still unsure whether the nation had that kind of technology. In response, Trump tweeted, “It won’t happen!”

Meanwhile, this latest demonstration also comes on the heels of Trump's recent conversation with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and his recognition, after some early fumbling, of the "One China" policy. While the North Korean missile program poses a threat to the U.S., it is a far greater menace to China and Japan, both of whom have recently reaffirmed their commitment to the new American president.